For one extended weekend, 42 high school girls from Los Angeles will attend NCSY’s 4G Convention in New Jersey. The highlight of the event, which is taking place in New Jersey, is a Shabbaton filled with connection, inspiration, and personal growth.

According to Sarah Simpser, Los Angeles 4G director, the trip is an opportunity for 350 girls from around the United States, including cities like LA, Las Vegas, New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Baltimore, and Milwaukee, to “get together for an entire Shabbat experience and maximize it. They will learn, ‘How can we better ourselves and grow?’”

This year, the theme for NCSY – which is an Orthodox Union youth movement designed to empower Jewish teens – is ownership of your Judaism.

“Even though we are born into it, we still have to choose it for ourselves,” Simpser said. “In today’s day and age, the biggest thing I’ve felt from most of the girls is finding depth and meaning in their day-to-day interactions and being mindful of everything they are a part of.”

The girls’ trip starts with a gathering on a yacht in New York, and then during Shabbat, they will hear from speakers flown in from around the world. They will share meals together, learn Torah, and connect with one another. The last day, on Sunday, they will go to American Dream Mall, which is owned by a Jewish family, the Ghermezians.

Every week, the 42 girls, who go to Jewish private schools throughout LA, come together in Pico-Robertson to learn Torah with a partner, a chavruta, do community service, and eat in local kosher restaurants.

“Our out of school programming enhances the girls’ Jewish identity,” said Simpser. “We teach them about being more intentional about the things they’re doing on a daily basis, and we’re providing that extra level of support and excitement around being a Jewish teenage girl.”

Along with NCSY, the West Coast Orthodox Union office, located on Pico Boulevard, also offers JSU, the Jewish Student Union. The latter program is for public and private school students and was created so that Jewish students could meet other Jewish students and learn about their culture and heritage. They strengthen their connection to Israel, as well as their Jewish identity. NCSY and JSU participants are offered the chance to go to Israel and learn about Jewish opportunities on their future college campuses, as well as in their communities.

At the NCSY girls’ program in LA, there are issues that are addressed, such as friendship situations, their relationships with their parents, and family and school crises. NCSY is there for guidance—no matter what.

“We are able to help and work with these teens,” Simpser said. “A lot do seek extra mentorship. They think, ‘Who can I talk to who isn’t biased?’ We are there to support our teens and meet them where they’re at.”

At Pressman Academy, today’s lunch becomes tomorrow’s garden treasure. Nothing goes to waste. Just steps from the cafeteria, banana peels, pizza crusts, and half-eaten apples aren’t destined for the trash — they’re transformed into nutrient-rich compost, thanks to California farmer and composting pioneer Steven Wynbrandt.

His innovative on-site system, known as The Wynbrandt Method, turns food waste into a hands-on lesson in sustainability.

There are few things Wynbrandt enjoys talking about more than composting. Passionate about his work, he can go on endlessly about the method he developed — one that eliminates everything people typically associate with composting: unpleasant smells, pests and labor.

The first school he convinced to participate in the program was the Wesley School in North Hollywood.

“They took a huge leap of faith,” Wynbrandt said. “They saw what I’d done and said, ‘We’re going to take this risk and step into the unknown with you.’ They’ll always have a special place in my heart — they signed on when no one else was doing it.”

Pressman Academy became the first Jewish school to adopt the program during the 2024-25 school year. Last month, students, families, and community members gathered to celebrate the first harvest, adding compost created on campus directly into the school’s garden beds.

“The idea for our garden started a few years before we met Steven Wynbrandt,” Yonatan Rosner, Judaic Studies Principal told The Journal. “There are social and emotional benefits to working with the land. The routines involved in caring for the land and animals help students learn about themselves and build resilience.”

After the school committee adopted the Wynbrandt Method, the entire community became involved — students, families, teachers, and members of Temple Beit Am, the synagogue with which the school is affiliated.

“We started with three compost containers, and now we have four,” Rosner said. “We’re able to compost between 2,000 and 3,000 pounds of food waste.” Rosner explained that the containers are tightly sealed, which keeps pests and insects out. Following Wynbrandt’s instructions, wood chips are added to the mix — they help maintain airflow, absorb excess moisture and provide a slow-release carbon source that feeds the compost over time and improves its texture.

Wynbrandt’s compost program is designed as a turnkey, on-site solution for schools and organizations seeking to eliminate food waste. The system promises a no-turn, low-tech approach — requiring no moving parts or electricity — while still being capable of composting 100% of the school’s food waste.

Students learn early on the importance of composting and how it contributes to creating healthy soil for the garden, which in turn helps grow fruits and vegetables. A group of students manages the composting twice a week, while a synagogue group takes over on Sunday mornings.

Composting has been steadily gaining popularity in the U.S. as more people realize that food waste doesn’t have to end up in landfills — it can become a valuable resource. Unlike typical store-bought soil or synthetic fertilizers, compost made from food scraps is packed with nutrients and microbes that naturally enrich the earth. It improves soil structure, helps retain water, and creates an environment where plants can thrive. Essentially, it turns what would have been trash into a powerhouse for healthier gardens, stronger plants, and more sustainable growth.

Despite its benefits, many people are hesitant to compost. The biggest concerns are the smell, the mess, and the pests — nobody wants a pile of rotting food attracting flies or rodents in their backyard. It can also feel complicated: what can go in, what can’t, and how often do you have to turn it? For these reasons, composting has often been seen as a time-consuming chore rather than a fun or useful project.

Wynbrandt is trying to change this concept and make it as effortless as possible.

He started his professional composting career around 2012, producing over a million pounds of compost by hand in his Los Angeles backyard. The LA Times featured him in a 2012 story calling him “The King of Compost,” and a decade ago, the subject of The Jewish Journal. As he expanded to farmlands in the Santa Monica Mountains and Sonoma County, Wynbrandt honed his artisanal techniques with heavy machinery, always keeping quality and sustainability front and center.

Today, Wynbrandt Farms is recognized across California for some of the state’s highest-quality compost, and in 2022, it launched the first and only hand-composted, Demeter-certified biodynamic compost available commercially in the U.S.

According to Wynbrandt, the compost he creates is nutrient-rich and strong, helping plants grow bigger and more nutritious. It also improves the soil’s ability to hold carbon, making it better for the environment and a natural tool against climate change. Wynbrandt treats the compost like a fine wine or aged cheese, letting it mature for a full year to ensure it’s rich and ready to use, and capable of growing food directly in it. “The healthier the soil, the more nutrient-dense the plants we grow in it.”

“At the end of the process,” he said, “when we hold the compost in our hands, we say, ‘Oh my God, we can’t believe this was the last bite of a hamburger or a bit of burrito mush,” said Wynbrandt. “Now it’s just like medicine that restores and heals the living skin of the earth.” He also emphasizes the environmental impact: “This high-quality compost makes the soil healthier, which in turn allows it to store more carbon — an incredibly effective strategy against climate change.

Pressman Academy sees composting not only as something good for the environment, but also as a way to teach students how to grow a garden and perform mitzvahs by sharing the produce with those in need.

“Our Judaic values remind us of both our blessings and our responsibilities — of caring for others and giving back,” said Rosner. “We wanted our garden to be more than a resilience project; we wanted it to be a sustainability effort that serves the community around us. After the pandemic, as we continued to see the challenges of homelessness, poverty, and hunger, we committed to growing food not only for ourselves, but to share with those in need.”

Steps away from USC, a bright pink billboard declares: “Being Jewish shouldn’t require campus security.” A similar sign stands just outside UCLA and outside other campuses. The message didn’t sit well with someone, who defaced one billboard with “End Zionism!” graffiti.

JewBelong, the nonprofit behind the campaign, posted a photo of the vandalized sign on Instagram with the caption: “A message about safety was met with hate. This is antisemitism.” The organization said it would replace the billboard.

The hot-pink billboard campaign began five years ago with humorous messages: “So, you eat bacon? God has better things to worry about.” And “We don’t care which half of you is Jewish.”

With the rise of antisemitism in the United States, the message has shifted to more serious slogans such as: “Jewish students don’t need your pity. Just your spine,” and “If you think turbulence is scary, try wearing a Jewish star.”

The goal of these billboards, co-founder Archie Gottesman told The Journal, is to raise awareness and get people talking about antisemitism. “Me and my co-founder Stacy Stuart were always sort of interested in what the world is talking about,” Gottesman said in a Zoom interview. “By the world I mean people who are not in the Jewish bubble, and billboards are a fantastic vehicle to speak with people who just don’t care that much about the issue and get them talking about it.”

Gottesman and Stuart approached the art of creating eye-catching, smart and provocative billboards almost like a science. They conducted surveys with non-Jewish participants, presented different messages, tested which ones resonated most and then placed them on billboards across the U.S.

“Most of our billboards aren’t in New York, LA or Florida. The goal is to be out of the echo chamber and to talk to the 98% of the population who is not Jewish, because that’s what the other side has done so well —  I’m talking about the anti-Jewish and antizionists.”

JewBelong has billboards in 42 states, including in places with small Jewish populations, such as in Tennessee, Ohio, Mississippi and Oregon — places where the average resident may not know any Jews and may be exposed to antisemitic rhetoric and misinformation.

“The sources we rely on for news, dictates the reality we see,” said Gottesman. “For example, my social media feed looks very different from someone else’s. The messages I’m getting really depends on which news media I’m watching. We’re almost living in separate news silos. So having those billboards might be the only way we can bring these messages to people who would never see them otherwise.”

Before Gottesman and Stuart founded JewBelong in 2017, they worked together in the self-storage business, Manhattan Mini Storage. They had billboards all over Manhattan that became known for their funny messages.

“We used any topic to get New Yorkers to look at our billboards and they did,” said Gottesman.  “They were very successful. People didn’t always rent from us, but we always got inquiries because we were everywhere.”

The idea behind JewBelong was to make Judaism more accessible and welcoming, especially to people who feel disconnected from Jewish life, but a few years later, in mid-2021, the organization shifted toward explicitly combating rising antisemitism in the U.S. and began placing large, bright pink billboards.

The co-founders paid attention to the Black Lives Matter movement or Stop Asian Hate campaign and saw how well they were able to raise awareness. They got people talking by gaining attention through huge billboards and advertisements. It was difficult to ignore them. They wanted to do the same for Jews in America.

When asked how effective the billboards are, Gottesman said they receive a lot of positive feedback. Surveys also show how it influences people to think about antisemitism and understand how big the problem is. “People constantly reach out to us. Many say things like, ‘I’m from Tennessee, I’m not Jewish, but I love your billboard,’ or ‘I’m so happy to see the Jews are finally speaking out.’ So, we know we are reaching many non-Jews, which is our main goal.”

Recently, JewBelong started a NYC campaign featuring digital taxi toppers on 4,000 cabs, along with a large-scale physical billboard in the Bronx. One reads: “Totally willing to hide my Jewish star for a free bus ride,” referring to one of Mayor Zohran Mamdani campaign promises. “In the past two years I actively noticed that it’s not safe being Jewish in New York. I live in the West Village and there is still graffiti. The other day I was in a taxi with my daughter, who served as a lone soldier in Israel. I mentioned something about going to Israel and she hushed me. She didn’t want me to mention Israel.”

Despite her worry about the new mayor, Gottesman believes Jews in the U.S. have many allies in the Christian community. Some churches even said they wanted to collaborate with JewBelong on a billboard. A few churches in Colorado Springs reached out and asked how they can help, so she “went for an interview with a Christian network and the love that I felt there was incredible, people told me, ‘We are praying for Israel.’ It was amazing. They are worried about what’s happening to the Jewish community because they feel that’s what going to happen to the Christian community too.”

Not all billboards are approved by the companies that own them. One that read, “Let’s be clear, Hamas is your problem too,” was rejected. The word “Israel” also will not be found on any billboard, as it would likely be rejected as well.

Gottesman said there are still people who are unsure whether Hamas is a terror organization, despite its Oct. 7 (2023) attacks and its long-standing designation as such by the United States. That confusion, she argues, is part of a larger problem: the speed at which misinformation spreads and how easily people with little background knowledge can be mobilized.

“We are not shy saying that JewBelong believes in a safe and secure Israel,” Gottesman said. “What the other side has been skilled at, is being able to gather people to their side. Someone who couldn’t find Israel on the map is suddenly marching for ‘Free Palestine.’ It’s really important that the Jewish community and our allies speak out to those people we call the ‘mushy middle,’ those who don’t know and don’t care, but also aren’t aware.”

She often thinks about the conversations she had as a child when she learned about the Holocaust. She asked her parents and her grandma: “What did you do during the ’40s?” Wondering if they did anything while Jews in Europe were taken to the gas chambers.

They replied: “We didn’t really know.”

The truth is, she said, that “people didn’t do much, for whatever reason. They felt hopeless, kind of like today. But we are not hopeless when we know what’s going on,” said Gottesman. “I don’t have grandchildren yet, but when I will, and they ask me, ‘What did you do in 2026?’ I don’t want to say I didn’t do anything. We need good people not to stay silent.”